The music that Oran Etkin creates with his Group Kelenia is an aural reflection of the new global landscape, painted by a young clarinetist and saxophonist born in a small town in Israel, now living in New York and leading a band comprised of Malian and American musicians.  Etkin’s distinctive sound is honest and unforced, infused with the constant presence of ancient influences – reverberations from the Malian Empire and the ages-old cry of the Jewish prayer.  At the same time it resonates with an urban vibe and the energy of the modern New York jazz scene.   “I love the contrast of old and new: of a tradition that has evolved over centuries and the creative individual expression of one man playing his own approach, in his own way, against that tradition and toward it,” states Etkin.